Welcome to this week’s edition of Becca’s Hype! This week we take a look at some changes on our favourite platform, Facebook.

Facebook test out a downvote option

Ever wanted to dislike something on Facebook? Since Reactions have been a thing, you can sort of get away with this by reacting as sad or angry, however, Facebook are currently testing an actual ‘downvote’ button with a small selection of US users.

This is a way for users to quickly inform Facebook that a specific comment is “inappropriate, uncivil, or misleading”. When pressed, more options will appear, allowing the user to say why they’ve felt the need to downvote that comment. The current test shows “offensive”, “misleading”, and “off-topic” as options.

Although many would likely enjoy this feature, it does raise a few questions. Facebook is trying to be the best way to connect with your friends and family, and yet they’re still pushing forward with updates which helps them as a news provider. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the balance between these two focuses play out.

Here’s a question for you: If you use Facebook, what do you want to get out of it? Updates from your friends, or the latest news from both your local community and around the world? Tweet us @basecreative.

Page Reach is changing

In addition to the test mentioned above, Facebook are also updating how Page Reach recorded.

There is currently an inconsistency as to how Page Reach is measured on the platform. When ads are run on Facebook, reach is only counted when a post enters somebody’s screen. Up until now, organic Page Reach has been calculated differently, instead, looking at how many times it was delivered to the News Feed. This means it might not have technically entered someone’s screen.

Facebook has reiterated: “This is a change in the way that we measure reach, not a change in News Feed distribution, and other engagement metrics will remain the same.”

Let’s be clear, this change will not have a knock-on effect and decrease your reach, however, it may seem that way. To help provide a comparison between the old and new reporting system, Facebook will be providing both the old and new metrics for a few months so you can see the difference and set new benchmarks if you need to.